Such a beautiful post! I have struggled with the same feelings. Why focus so much time worrying about “me time” when the times I feel best are the times I’m serving others? I love you Britt! You are an outstanding mother and downright gift to this world. ❤️
Beautiful, Brittany - that dissolving into God that St Theresa speaks about is what draws me, too.
Your reflections on the 'woo-woo-adjacent things' reminded me of an essay Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote about spiritism, where he concludes, "The whole world is an omen and a sign. Why look so wistfully in a corner? Man is the Image of God. Why run after a ghost or a dream?" God is
Nov 3, 2023·edited Nov 3, 2023Liked by Brittany Muller
Great post Brit. Glad things are going well with the family. I can't help but smile when I see the experience you had becoming Catholic while your tarot book was on the horizon, I remember my dire warning to you that Catholics would chew it up and spit it out. Everything is an idol, so perhaps insteaed of landing on that fact, just know it was tool that helped you get to where you are and now you don't need it anymore. Everything can be this, including scriptures. The #1 thing I can say in regards to mysticism is "be not afraid". Do not be afraid to become a mystic, it is actually the base call to religion for all peoples. Mysticism is when you see the grace of the Lord truly spill out and you will see with your own eyes, mind, and heart all things carry the presence of the Lord. It will make you more devout, but perhaps less Roman Catholic, albeit MORE catholic.
But the knowledge that the less I center my own self in my life, the more peace and contentment I feel. That it is a relief to let go of my self and hold onto grace instead, to get out of my own way in order to love others more fully. - Beautiful
Brittany, your writing has helped draw me back to Catholicism after many years away, now as the mom of a one-year-old. I love your description of that well of supernatural patience and the spiritual rewards of motherhood. I do still savor solo hobbies and friend time, but time with my family feels suffused with love and grace in a way I didn’t expect and don’t need to escape. Thank you for all you share!
From your second footnote, I took turned back through Valentin Tomberg's Meditations on the Tarot (the German version of which can be seen in a photograph on JP2's desk) and which has an afterward by Card. Hans Urs von Balthasar. If Tomberg is right that the Tarot is a Christian story of the soul, confusion is not merited. Even if Robert M Place's hypothesis of the Tarot as a neo-platonic story of the soul is little different.
The following passage struck me this morning as relevant (lectio divino):
'Reading is the careful study of the Scriptures, concentrating all one's powers on it. Meditation is the busy application of the mind to seek with the help of one's own reason for knowledge of hidden truth. Prayer is the heart's devoted turning to God to drive away evil and obtain what is good. Contemplation is when the mind is in some sort lifted up to God and held above itself, so that it tastes the joys of everlasting sweetness." - Guigo, A Ladder of Monks and Twelve Meditations, p. 68
Such a beautiful post! I have struggled with the same feelings. Why focus so much time worrying about “me time” when the times I feel best are the times I’m serving others? I love you Britt! You are an outstanding mother and downright gift to this world. ❤️
Beautiful, Brittany - that dissolving into God that St Theresa speaks about is what draws me, too.
Your reflections on the 'woo-woo-adjacent things' reminded me of an essay Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote about spiritism, where he concludes, "The whole world is an omen and a sign. Why look so wistfully in a corner? Man is the Image of God. Why run after a ghost or a dream?" God is
Great post Brit. Glad things are going well with the family. I can't help but smile when I see the experience you had becoming Catholic while your tarot book was on the horizon, I remember my dire warning to you that Catholics would chew it up and spit it out. Everything is an idol, so perhaps insteaed of landing on that fact, just know it was tool that helped you get to where you are and now you don't need it anymore. Everything can be this, including scriptures. The #1 thing I can say in regards to mysticism is "be not afraid". Do not be afraid to become a mystic, it is actually the base call to religion for all peoples. Mysticism is when you see the grace of the Lord truly spill out and you will see with your own eyes, mind, and heart all things carry the presence of the Lord. It will make you more devout, but perhaps less Roman Catholic, albeit MORE catholic.
What a wonderful blessing Brittany…. Thank you for sharing just what I needed to hear today, and always…xxx
But the knowledge that the less I center my own self in my life, the more peace and contentment I feel. That it is a relief to let go of my self and hold onto grace instead, to get out of my own way in order to love others more fully. - Beautiful
Brittany, your writing has helped draw me back to Catholicism after many years away, now as the mom of a one-year-old. I love your description of that well of supernatural patience and the spiritual rewards of motherhood. I do still savor solo hobbies and friend time, but time with my family feels suffused with love and grace in a way I didn’t expect and don’t need to escape. Thank you for all you share!
From your second footnote, I took turned back through Valentin Tomberg's Meditations on the Tarot (the German version of which can be seen in a photograph on JP2's desk) and which has an afterward by Card. Hans Urs von Balthasar. If Tomberg is right that the Tarot is a Christian story of the soul, confusion is not merited. Even if Robert M Place's hypothesis of the Tarot as a neo-platonic story of the soul is little different.
The following passage struck me this morning as relevant (lectio divino):
'Reading is the careful study of the Scriptures, concentrating all one's powers on it. Meditation is the busy application of the mind to seek with the help of one's own reason for knowledge of hidden truth. Prayer is the heart's devoted turning to God to drive away evil and obtain what is good. Contemplation is when the mind is in some sort lifted up to God and held above itself, so that it tastes the joys of everlasting sweetness." - Guigo, A Ladder of Monks and Twelve Meditations, p. 68